Card tray



y 9, 1959 A; R. RUDDELL ETAL 2,887,115

CARD TRAY Filed Aug. 8, 1957 s Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VENTORS' y 1959 A. R.RUDDELL ETAL 2,887,115

CARD TRAY 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 8, 1957 INVENTORS ,4, ,Q, Q1/0015.LL. K H, W/LMEQ May 19, 1959 A. k. RUDDELL ETAL 2,837,115

cm) TRAY Filed Aug. 8, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 .IIIII INVENTOI KS Ag 11005163/7. W/LMfi/Q I I P I I Il- HHHHHA H "q III HHHGHHII CARD TRAY AllisonR. Ruddell and Rudolph H. Wilmer, Youngstown, Ohio, assignors to TheGeneral Fireproofing Company, Youngstown, Ohio, a corporation of OhioApplication August 8, 1957, Serial No. 677,119

1 'Claim. (Cl. 129-26) This invention relates to card trays.

Trays for holding record cards are usually removably mounted side byside, that is, transversely of storage drawers, and include a slidablecompressor with a fixed rearward inclination and a front plate whichcooperates with the compressor to keep the cards compactly in the tray.1

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a tray with a simpleand practical embodiment of a front plate which may be readily operatedby the user of the tray through the medium of a control lever to releaseor look the plate in relation to the cards.

A further object of the invention is to provide a one piece releaselever for the front plate which may be readily assembled thereto.

With the above and other objects in view which will more readily appearas the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consistsin the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts,hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a detail fragmentary perspective view illustrating the mannerof mounting and operating the front plate and also indicating how thetrays may be stacked without interference from fixed handles at the endsof the trays.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the tray shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the end of the drawer of Fig. 2 having thefront plate therein.

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughoutthe several figures of the drawing.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 3, it will be observed that the card trayis designated generally as A and includes the opposite end walls 1-1,side walls 2 and bottom wall 3. The opposite end walls 1-1 are providedwith the upstanding lugs 4 intended to fit in the mating openings 5 inthe bottom wall 3 of a superposed drawer, for stacking purposes. It willthus be understood that each tray has lugs and slots.

Also, each of the end walls 1-1 is provided with a fixed handle 6 whichenables the tray to be readily lifted from the storage drawer B (Fig.3). The handle portions 6 projecting outwardly of the end walls rest onthe upper beads 7 of the sides of said drawer B and thus suspend thetray across the drawer when it is intended to be stored in a suitablecabinet. A tiltable front plate 8 is mounted on a carrier or insert forcooperation with a conventional compressor C.

As will be more particularly observed from Figs. l-4, the part of thedrawer which constitutes the front and which receives the insert has thefront plate 8 hinged as at 9 to the bottom flange 10 of the verticalwall 11 of said insert designated generally as 12.

The insert includes the bottom flange 10, vertical wall 2,887,115Patented May 19, 1959 11 and the top flange 13 disposed in a directionopposite the bottom flange 10. This bottom flange is shorter in lengththan the wall 12 and flange 13 as shown in Figs. 1 and 4 to enable thewall to snap behind the indentations 14 on the tray bottom when theflange 13 is placed beneath the lip 14 on the front end wall 1 of thedrawer and at the bottom of the finger clearance recess below the handle6.

The front plate 8 is provided at its rear side, that is, the side facingthe insert 12, with a pair of guide strips 8 which may be extruded outof the plate to provide guides. The primary purpose of this feature isto provide proper slidable relationship between the plate and thelifting or control lever L.

The control lever, as will presently appear more in detail may beconveniently assembled to the front plate 8 and wall 11.

The control lever L is preferably in the form of a Wire or rod ofsufiicient rigidity to enable it to be permanently bent into a pair oflaterally disposed spaced parallel bail arms 15 having rearwardlydisposed journal portions 16 offset in the same direction and intendedto fit into pivot eyes 17 struck out from the wall 11. The opposite endsof said arms 15 adjacent the plate extend transversely of the drawer andinclude inturned plate-bearing members 18, having medially therebetween,a U-shaped handle or loop 19 readily accessible to a finger of the trayusers hand. This handlle lies entirely within the space between the rearface of the plate and the vertical wall of the insert to be freelyaccessible at all times to avoid awkward manipulation of the handle andat no time presents the hazard of pinched fingers. If it is desired tomove the locking lever to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 3 tofree up the cards, it is only necessary to lift the loop. Of course, itis optional whether the tray user manipulates the locking lever whilelifting the tray, but in any event the purpose of the loop 19 is topermit the entire locking lever to be raised or elevated so as to permitthe horizontal portions 18 to freely slide beneath the strips 8 with theparts 16 and 17 in pivoting relation, thereby to positively move oractuate the plate backwardly to the dotted line position of said Fig. 3.

The compressor C may be slidably moved to any desired position inaccordance with customary practice to support the cards at a convenientviewing angle. When it is desired to lock or clamp the cards between thefollower or compressor C and the front plate, it is simply necessary forthe tray user to push and thereby rock the front plate 8 on the hinge 9to move it to the full line position shown, for example in Fig. 3. Aswill be observed from this figure, the offset portions 16 of the lockinglever which fit in the pivot eyes 16 are disposed at a higher elevationthan the bottom of the guides or slots provided by the strips 8*.Therefore, when the front plate 8 is forcibly tilted rearwardly tocompact the cards against the follower or compressor C, the said frontplate will be locked in position because the inturned portions 18 of thelocking lever are below the center or aXis of the offset portions 16 ofthe lever.

The control lever may be conveniently assembled to the front plate bythreading the same beneath the strips 8 until the loop 19 has room toshift laterally, and, since the journal or foot portions 16 areangularly disposed in the same direction, they may be readily insertedin the eyes 17.

From the foregoing it will now be apparent that the present inventioncarries out the objects heretofore indicated by providing a pivotedfront plate 8 tiltably or swingably mounted on hinge 9 and controlled bya lever L in such a way that when the lever is pulled upwardly the frontplate will tilt backwardly, and when the front plate or the lever ismoved forwardly, the lever will firmly lock or hold the front plateagainst the cards to maintain them against the follower or compressor.

Also, the invention provides within its scope variations in the traysfor mounting them in drawers of different depth.

We claim:

In a card tray having a bottom wall, opposite side walls, and front andrear end walls; a lip projecting horizontally inwardly from the frontend wall, an indentation projecting upwardly from the bottom walladjacent each side thereof and in equally spaced relation to said frontend wall, an insert fitted into the front end of the tray, said insertcomprising a vertical wall disposed in spaced parallel relation to saidfront end 'wall and having a horizontal flange extending forwardly fromthe upper edge thereof and terminating in a free edge removably engagedwith said front end wall, an outer portion of said flange beingremovably engaged with the lower face of said lip, said wall having afree lower edge portion adjacent each of said side walls engaged with arespective one of said indentations, a flange projecting rearwardly fromthe lower edge of said vertical wall intermediate said free lower edgeportions and resting on said bottom wall of the tray, an upright platedisposed rearwardly of said vertical wall and having its lower edgepivotally connected to the free edge of said last flange, on an axisparallel with said vertical wall, said vertical wall being provided witha pair of laterally spaced pivot eyes adjacent the junction of the wallwith said first flange, said upright plate being provided with a pair oflaterally spaced guide ways elongated in a direction normal to saidaxis, and a control lever for moving said upright plate about said axisforward and away from said vertical wall, comprising a pair of laterallyspaced parallel arms having off-set ends rotatably received in saidpivot eyes, a pair of co-axial bearing members in right angular relationto said arms slidably disposed in said elongated guide ways, and aU-shaped handle projecting from adjacent ends of said bearing membersbetween said guide ways and extending in a direction toward saidvertical wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,653,937 Welk Dec. 27, 1927 1,695,257 Ohnstrand Dec. 11, 1928 1,978,381Hutchings Oct. 23, 1934 1,982,504 Elliott Nov. 27, 1934 2,015,460 RandSept. 24, 1935 2,692,811 Page Oct. 26, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 645,805Great Britain Mar. 8, 1950

